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The Proper Office and Spirit of the Ministry 



A SERMON 



PREACHED BEFORE 




THE SOCIETY OF THE ALUMNI ^ 



THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF VIRGINIA 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE SOCIETY. 



By the rev. JAMES MAY, D. D., 



PROFESSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY, POLITY, AND I'ULPIT KI.OQrnuNCE 
IN THE SEMINARY. 



WASHINGTON : 
PRINTED BY WM. Q, . FORCE, 
CORNER OF 10th AND D STREETS, 

1844. 





>. 



The Proper Office and Spirit of the Ministry, 



A SERMON 



PREACHED BEFORE 



THE SOCIETY OF THE ALUMNI 



THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF VIRGINIA, 



AND 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE SOCIETV. 



By the rev. JAMES MAY, D. D., 

PROFESSOR OP CHURCH HISTORY, POLITY, AND PULPIT ELOaUENCE, 
IN THE SEMINARY. 




WASHINGTON : 

PRINTED BY WM. Q. FORCE, 

CORNER OF 10th AND D STREETS. 

1844. 



V 



<^ 



SERMON. 



*♦ K"0NE OP THESE THINGS MOVE ME, NEITHER COUNT I MY LIFE DEAR UNTO MYSELF, Stf 
THAT I MIGHT FINISH MY COURSE WITH JOY, AND THE MINISTRY WHICH I HAVE RE** 
CEIVED OF THE LORD JESUS, TO TESTIFY THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD." ActS 

20 : 24. 

Some things in the address of St. Paul to the elders of 
the church of Ephesus^ are proper to the time and occa- 
sion of its original delivery. But it is not difficult to 
generalise the topics, and separate what is peculiar to the 
original speaker and hearers of the charge, and give our 
attention to those things in it v^hich are common to all 
ministers of the gospel. The spirit of St. Paul on this 
occasion is one vs^hich ought to be possessed by all minis- 
ters of it. The proper office of the ministry is also stated — 
^^ to testify the gospel of the grace of God ;" for this lan- 
guage is exegetical of the preceding phrase, ^' the minis- 
try which I have received of the Lord Jesus.'' I may 
readily excuse myself from discussing on this occasion 
the constitution of the Christian ministry, for that sub- 
ject is with me in these walls official, and I appear among 
you simply as a brother in the fellowship of the alumni 
of this Seminary. Besides, one may be pardoned for 
thinking that the subject does not lack sufficient attention 
in our time. There seems to be no danger just now of 
the claims of our peculiar ecclesiastical polity being over- 
looked in the church. 

I call your attention to the ministry, 

I. IJSr ITS PROPER OFFICE* 
II. IN ITS PROPER SPIRIT. 

Its proper office is set forth in the text : ^^ To testify the 
gospel of the grace of God." " The gospel of the grace 



of God'^ is the good tidings of that grace which is sum- 
med up in this one pointy '^ Christ Jesus has come into the 
world to save sinners." The subject of the gospel is this 
grace^ and the manner of setting it forth is that of testi- 
mony — ^^ to testify the gospel of the grace of God.'' 

The commission which the apostles bore when they 
were sent forth to fulfil their proper office required them 
primarily to ^^ preach the gospel/' to ^^ teach all nations." 
St. Paul declares it to be his office^ as a minister of 
Christ; chiefly to ^^ preach the gospel." ^^ Christ sent me 
not to baptize^ but to preach the gospel." The success of 
all labors for the conversion of the hearts of men to God, 
is attributable to the power of the Holy Ghost sent down 
from heaven. Paul plants^ Apollos waters^ God gives the 
increase, but it is through the preaching of evangelical 
truth. It is this truth committed to writing in the Scrip- 
tures, and to be dispensed by them when " the Holy Ghost 
moves to take upon them the office" of the ministry, which 
is the means for bringing the souls of men '^ out of darkness 
into light, and of turning them from the power of Satan 
unto God." This is '^ the sword of the Spirit." It is 
the " incorruptible seed" in the heart, quickened hy the 
power of God unto eternal life. It is when teaching 
^^ the truth as it is in Jesus," that the minister of Christ 
most properly magnifies his office. The office is most 
exalted when in its proper place, which is not that of a 
dispensary of grace in virtue of official relation to God 
and to man, but of a servant of the church, or rather of 
Christ, sent forth to labor in expounding the Scriptures, 
and in bearing witness to the gospel of the grace of God. 
The ministry is not a medium or channel of grace, com- 
municating it through the person of the priest to the 
persons of those for whom he officiates sacerdotally. He 
is not sent out to strike his hand ovei^ the place, and call 
upon the Lord his God, and recover the leper. He is 



the servant ^^sent out'^ * with the message. Wash and be 
clean, BeHeve and be saved. Chemical analogies as to 
the transmission of grace are out of place. It is mind, 
spirit, which the gospel is to act upon, and here we are 
to look for that sort of influence which is proper to mind. 
Grace is not applied, nor does it act after the manner of 
medicine, ex opere operato ; it does not penetrate or diffuse 
itself through an unconscious substance, decomposing or 
modifying its elements, and recombining them in new 
forms. The new man in Christ does not come into being 
and grow up in strength and size by a vegetative process, 
like the seed sown in a decayed or corrupt mass. The 
soul is begotten to a new life by the Holy Ghost through 
the word of God. It is by learning truths, that the minds 
of men are enhghtened and moved. The propagation of 
some great doctrines, those, for instance, respecting the 
civil and pohtical rights of men, have at times unsettled 
the old foundations of governments, decomposed the ele- 
ments of social organization and recombined them in new 
forms, and renovated whole nations in spirit and power. 
How much greater the influence of those mighty truths in 
rehgion, which touch the deepest motives of the soul, and 
especially when the Spirit of God becomes the teacher, 
and demonstrates those truths with divine energy. 

The great fact of the gospel which the ministry is to 
testify, is that already recited : ^^ Christ Jesus has come 
into the world to save sinners.^' This is the gospel in 
sum. All evangelical truths spring out of this. It is the 
alphabet of religion, to be learned as the element of all 
gospel knowledge. It involves the doctrines of man's 
fall, of his inbred depravity and guilt, the curse of God 
on his soul, the way of justification and life through the 
propitiatory sufferings of the incarnate Son of God, the 
sanctification of the believer through the operation of the 



6 

Holy Ghost^ and his final glorification with his ascended 
Redeemer. If Christ came to save^ of course man is in 
a condition of need as to the soul-^if Jesus be the Son of 
God in his divinity^ that need must be great^ and no power 
but that of divinity can relieve it. If the salvation be 
such as befits him to undertake and to accomplish through 
suffering in bloody how mighty and glorious the work in 
its nature and results ! 

In " testifying the gospel of the grace of God/' we are 
to show man the fact of his fall^ and the depth of it — that 
such is '^ the carnal mind" which he inherits, that "- it is 
not subject to the law of God, nor can be, being enmity 
against God" — that all man's efforts of understanding and 
of will, can neither attain to the knowledge of God, nor 
to the execution of his will when known — that he must 
have hfe, not by working, but by believing — that the right- 
eousness in which he is to appear before God is not his 
own, to be offered by him to God, but God's, to be 
received by the believer — that Hfe is not wages to be 
wrought for, but a gift to be accepted as a grace. The 
gospel of the grace of God, embracing these points, is to 
be set forth in the way of testimony. The proper truths 
of the gospel are facts delivered to us by testimony, 
the witness being the Son of God who " proceeded forth 
and came from God." He, and his apostles after him, do 
not deliver his doctrines in the way of opinions, claiming 
credit for them according to their intrinsic worth, or as 
conclusions drawn from a course of reasoning. They are 
affirmed as facts, and delivered with the assurance of eye 
witnesses, of men who can say, ^^ we speak that we do 
know, and testify that we have seen." The apostles de- 
clared themselves to be witnesses for Christ of what they 
affirmed as true. All who preach the gospel are wit- 
nesses also, though of course not in the same manner as 
ihe apostles. They are to repeat the apostles' testimony 



that God has sent his Son to redeem by his death the 
souls of our lost race ; that he is just and holy, and will 
allow no sin to pass ; that having appointed a day in which 
he will judge the world in righteousness, he now com- 
mands all men every where to repent ; that without holi- 
ness no man shall see the Lord. 

Sometimes the simple affirmation of the truths of the 
Bible, especially if made in the right spirit, produces con- 
viction. The reading of the Bible alone in the chamber 
has often produced faith in minds before ignorant and 
unbelieving. At the opening of the council of Nice some 
heathen philosophers made their appearance, in part to 
satisfy curiosity, and in part to oppose the Christians by 
their reasonings. One distinguished for his pretensions 
to wisdom derided the clergy as illiterate. ^^ He could 
by no kind of learning" be overcome, says the homily 
following Eusebius, ^^ but was able to withstand all the 
arguments that could be brought against him, with little 
or no labor. At length there started up a poor simple 
man, of small wit and less knowledge, one that was repu- 
ted among the learned as an idiot, and he, in God's name, 
would needs take in hand to dispute with this proud 
philosopher. The bishops and other learned men stand- 
ing by, were marvellously abashed at the matter," contin- 
ued the homily, " thinking that by his doing they should 
be all confounded and put to an open shame." After 
reciting the facts of the gospel, he said : " These things we 
believe in simplicity ; do not labor in vain about what 
ought to be received in faith, but if thou believest, answer 
me, now I ask thee." The subtle opposer yielded to 
what he declared to be a power above human, and said, I 
do believe, and became a Christian. St. Paul speaks of 
commending the truth to the consciences of men, and 
elsewhere also of the unbelieving, who, coming into the 



8 

assembly of Christians where the word of God is taught, 
is convinced of all; is judged of all. 

Testifying the gospel of the grace of God stands dis- 
tinct, 

1 . From reasoning out religious truths ^ coming at them 
as conclusions a priori. 

For instance, assuming that, as certain attributes belong 
to God, and that as there are eternal relations and fit- 
nesses of things, therefore, such and such truths follow as 
demonstrated. Doctrines so derived are speculations, 
abstractions, fitted to entertain the understanding, and 
please the pride of man who would boast of his reason. 
The exercise of the mind in such speculations may be 
agreeable as intellectual entertainment, or effectual as dis- 
cipline of the mind, or may promise advantage in exalt- 
ing man as a rational being, but how can they suit the 
case of a poor soul, which, lying under a load of guilt, 
and lost in darkness as to the way of life and peace, is in- 
quiring what shall I do to be saved ? In the first place such 
philosophy as I refer to, would have no sympathy with 
the spirit of the inquirer. It would be apt to slight the 
seriousness of the question, as showing anxiety without 
just occasion. It would look upon such anxiety as the 
proof or the effects of superstition, or of mental weak- 
ness. In the next place, even if it sympathized with the 
spirit of the inquirer, it could not satisfy him. It could 
give to the momentous question no answer to relieve the 
perplexity and doubt and distress of the soul. If my 
soul on waking up from irrational indifference to the sub- 
ject of my relations to God finds itself hke one out upon 
a mighty sea whose waters are heaving in ceaseless trou- 
ble, where there is no light to guide, nor skilful and 



9 

strong hand to direct, O how would it mock me to offer 
me profound speculations upon the mysteries of being, 
the eternal relations of things, and the probabilities from 
analogy of immortal being and final retribution. To my 
spirit laboring under a burden of guilt, wandering in 
uncertainty, and aching with perplexity about the ques- 
tion of the favor of God, who, so far as all nature can 
avail, is to me a hidden God, what can bring rehef like a 
simple testimony spoken out from behind the veil of mys- 
tery which hangs before his throne ? Tell me this only, 
that God has spoken, and has said for what end he made 
us, how he now regards us in relation to himself, and 
what he has done to open a way of access to himself, 
then I have ground on which my soul can repose itself in 
confidence. If God speak out a word respecting his will, 
a babe can know more perfectly from such testimony than 
all the giant minds of antiquity from their deepest specu- 
lations. Throw the mind of man off upon the sea of 
speculation, and though he may entertain or please him- 
self by his reasonings, and think to exalt himself by the 
powers of his nature, to a way of happiness, yet he is 
lost in uncertainty, and, what proves his vanity and folly, 
he finds pleasure in wandering off in scepticism. If he 
entertain religious questions at all, it will not be for the 
simple purpose of knowing the will of God that he may 
do it, but that he may exercise his own powers, and 
please himself in speculations, or it may be in endeavor- 
ing to overthrow the foundations of truth. Take man in 
his best condition without the word of God, and let him 
€ven sincerely set himself to seek the truth, and the 
utmost he can reach, as to a knowledge of a hereafter, is 
a probability founded on the analogies of the known 
course of nature. The Bible delivers the high mysteries 
of the faith simply as facts, and calls on us to credit them 
on the authority of the witness, who is God, not because 



10 

they are conclusions from reason. When the apostles 
teach the condition of man as fallen^ and the way of re- 
covery^ and the nature of true rehgion^ they do not go 
back to the elements of all things, and reason forward to 
certain conclusions, but they speak simply in the name of 
God, and dehver the truth as witnesses. 

2. Testifying the gospel of the grace of God^ is distinct 
from teaching duties merely. 

Teaching the law of God merely, does not meet the 
wants of men. It is not knowledge of the command- 
ments that they need in order to their walking in the way 
of life. The law of God does not show the way of life 
for man now fallen, in sin, and under judgment of death. 
^^By the law," says St. Paul, ^^is the knowledge of sin." 
^^ The commandment which was ordained unto life," for 
unfallen creatures, is now, to man fallen, ^^ found unto 
death." The more clearly then one sees the law, the 
more clearly he sees his condition of sin and death, and 
the hopelessness of his case, so far as he may look to him- 
self for relief. 

Preaching the law, as it cannot show to men fallen and 
depraved the way of hfe, neither can it supply the mo- 
tives of obedience. To enforce duties on a mind averse 
to them, even if it be effectual to obtain obedience in the 
form or the letter, cannot secure the spirit of it. It tends 
but to chill the heart, and genders a spirit of bondage 
which goes reluctantly and coldly to the form of com- 
pliance. St. Paul says, " the law is weak through the 
flesh." Because of the fallen condition of man, it has 
not the power to beget in him the spirit of obedience. 

To hold up the divine law as sufficient to guide man to 
duty and to life is to mistake his case. It is to suppose 
him to be not innately depraved, but as having in himself 



11 

a capacity or power of obedience which needs to be only 
set right or properly directed. Hence it is we have so 
many proofs of the inefficacy of mere moral teaching. It 
is showing a man the way which leads to a certain pointy 
while the fact is overlooked that he is sick and unable 
even to stand. 

Teaching duties merely cherishes in men a spirit of 
self-sufficiency which is directly contrary to the spirit of 
the gospel^ for that spirit renounces self and seeks all 
sufficiency in Christ. The direct tendency of the gospel 
is to break down the spirit in contritiouj and so humble 
the soul as to receive life as a gift of sheer grace. The 
gospel allows of no self-complacency, because of an ad- 
vantage or superiority in respect to others ; for, so far as 
need of grace is concerned, all are regarded as on a com- 
mon level. The evil which the gospel is to remedy is not 
the result of peculiar circumstances of example or temp- 
tation, but it belongs to man as fallen. ^^ That which is 
born of the flesh is flesh. '^ The fall is the common inheri- 
tance of our race. No man can boast himself against his 
neighbor. The Pharisee who looks with complacency 
f)n his assumed goodness, and '^ thanks God that he is 
not as others are,'^ the philosopher who looks down on 
the vulgar because of his advantages on the high ground 
of science, must come to the same level with the publi- 
can, the ill-bred, and the vicious, in pleading for grace, 
and all join alike in the prayer, " God be merciful to me 
a sinner." But this is not the result of teaching duties 
merely, as distinct from ^^ testifying the gospel of the 
grace of God." 

3. Testifying the gospel of the grace of God, is dis- 
tinct from exalting the ministerial office as mediatorial. 

The minister of Christ does not come in between God 
and man as a necessary link in the chain of communica- 



12 

tion between the throne of grace and the penitent seek- 
ing access. He is not placed before the altar to receive 
the offering of the worshipper^ and present it to God. 
He is not the priest to offer sacrifices^ but the prophet to 
teach. He has not a vicarious agency in charge of the 
affairs of the souls of those to whom he ministers. The 
penitent is to negociate directly with God^ not through 
the intervention of the priest. The veil into the holiest 
of all is rent^ and the mystery of sacerdotal medium is no 
longer needful^ for each one may now " come with bold- 
ness to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and grace." 
The minister is the teacher and adviser. '^ We preach 
not ourselves^ but Christ Jesus the Lord^ and ourselves 
your servants for Jesus' sake.'^ 

4. Testifying the gospel, S^c, is distinct from making 
religion an affair of the imagination. 

When the understanding is Winded as to spiritual 
things^ then the imagination is liable to be wrought on^ 
and religion becomes a matter of poetical sentiment^ or of 
superstition. It is either one of the pleasures of the ima- 
gination^ presenting agreeable images to gratify the taste, 
or a yoke of bondage^ working on the fears of man. In 
the one case, it is a subject for poets, who can invest it 
with charms by associating it with what is beautiful or 
grand in works of nature, or in the fine arts. The poet 
can fascinate the mind by a species of sentimental or 
romantic devotion, by making religion a matter of taste. 
He paints religion as a divinity dwelling in the grandeur 
of mountains, or the sombre shade of groves, or inspiring 
by its presence the stately temple. Or, he may paint it as 
charity, a personification of mere tenderness, which would 
hold out the prospect of happiness to the suffering with- 
out discrimination of character. Religion as dwelling in 



13 

the imagination occupies the regard of no small portion 
of those who profess to be Christians. The religion of 
plain fact^ of common sense^ which will not suit itself to 
the tastes or fancies of men^ but requires all tastes to be 
formed after its requirements^ is too homely a matter for 
poetry^ and crosses too much the desires and pleasures of 
men to be relished as a rule of living. Every thing will 
be yielded rather than the spirit. Men will please their 
fancies at almost any cost, they will submit to require- 
ments burdensome and expensive as to substance and 
time, provided they may cleave wholly to the world in 
heart. The temptation is strong to substitute the reli- 
gion of the imagination, for that of plain fact and naked 
truth. One who, in contemplating those works of nature 
which have the attribute of grandeur, is led to think with 
awe of the mighty Being whose hand has reared them, 
or who, while listening to music made for sacred subjects, 
feels his spirit softened and subdued^ is apt to please him- 
self with the fancy that his emotions are devotional, and 
prove him capable of communion with his Maker. But 
such an emotion is a pleasure of the imagination merely. 
It is wholly an affair of the taste, a pleasure of which the 
licentious infidel may be as susceptible as the devout be- 
liever. The author of Childe Harold, standing under 
the dome of the master piece of Michael Angelo, not- 
withstanding his infidelity, showed as much of that poeti- 
cal kind of devotion, as the Pope himself kneeling there 
at the shrine of St. Peter. 

The religion of the imagination cannot have scope in 
the crowed and in the common affairs of Hfe. It concerns 
not itself in the vulgar duties of every day, but must 
have occasions and themes of mystery and awe. Where 
it finds no mysteries belonging necessarily to the subject, 
it must create or fancy them. The literal binds the soul 
too rigidly to matters of common sense ; the mystical 



14 

must come in to free the spirit^ and give it scope amidst 
the wonders lying beyond the regions of observation or 
testimony. Matters of fact or of plain testimony^ the 
simple doctrines of revelation delivered in language to 
be interpreted according to grammar and dictionary^ hang 
as dead weights on the wings of the soul. The imagi- 
nation has not freedom of breathing in such confined air. 
These clogs must be thrown oif, and then the soul can 
rise to the high regions of spiritual or etherial luxury. 
In the upper tracts of air^ the clouds sometimes hang a 
veil of frowning darkness, from which proceed Hghtning 
and thunder, to awe the spirit ; or sometimes, floating in 
a sea of pure light, which they reflect in hues of unearth- 
ly beauty, become like etherial dwellings fitted to enter- 
tain the soul in the days of festival. The religion of ima- 
gination delights to sustain itself by associations. It de- 
lights in grandeur of edifice, in pompous ceremonial, in 
the hoariness of antiquity, in the beauties of painting and 
sculpture. 

I remarked that religion of the imagination, besides 
being a matter of poetical sentiment gratifying taste, is 
also an afiair of superstition, moving by terror. It appeals 
to man's fears through his ignorance as to the invisible 
and the future. It does not woo to duty by the influence 
of a spirit of truth and of love, but drives the soul under 
obedience by dread of something set forth to the imagi- 
nation in the garb of darkness or of power. If it prompt 
to an offering, it is because of supposed malignity in the 
god who is to be appeased. The god of its worship is 
not one of truth and hoUness, of loveliness in his justice 
as well as in his grace, but a god of power, to be dread- 
ed in the exercise of that power. The mythology of 
classic Greece was a mixture of the two religions ; that of 
poetry or taste, and that of superstition or terror — the 
former being predominant. The rehgion of corrupted 



15 

Christianity in modern Rome has the elements of both. 
It gratifies taste, and yields a pleasure of the imagination 
by the grandeur of its temple and the gorgeousness of its 
ritual ; mingling poetry, painting, music, and architecture. 
h invests the monastic hfe with the poetry of seraphic 
devotion. It does not find its proper place in the sphere 
of common duties, but aims at etherial perfection. It 
cannot breathe freely in the crowd, but seeks the moun- 
tain side and the grove. It influences the mind also by 
superstition. It invests the priests with a ghostly power, 
which surrounds his person with an air of awful sanctity, 
repelling familiarity, and holding the multitude in check, 
as if divinity were felt. The priestly influence is not 
that of truth demonstrated to the understanding, and 
subjecting the will through conviction, but it is power 
over the imagination. The ground of submission is not 
that simple truth has been shown and calls for obedience, 
but the authority of the priesthood. It is virtually put- 
ting the priesthood before the truth, inasmuch as this is 
the oracle which gives it out, and the oracular response 
shuts up inquiry. The priest's declaring it does not, in- 
deed, make it truth abstractly, but truth to the people, 
who are not to look behind the oracle to see whence and 
how the response is given. The people are led or ruled 
by fear and awe, but of what ? An indefinable some- 
thing — a power wrapt in darkness and mystery, and 
therefore a subject on which the imagination can have 
scope. 

The religion of taste is most attractive to cultivated 
minds. This deals with man, not so much a wicked be- 
ing having in his heart tlie elements of mahgnant depra- 
vity, and therefore justly sentenced to Hell, as with man 
as an unfortunate being — an object of pity rather than of 
holy indignation. According to this view, God appears 
not so much in the light of his holiness and justice as 



16 

that of pure good will and tenderness. It calls for tears^ 
not so much of repentance for having done wickedly as 
of tenderness and sympathy. It is not so much the open- 
ing of a way of Hfe for a creature who has done malig- 
nant wickedness^ and whose guilt nothing but an atonement 
of blood can expiate^ and whose depravity of heart the 
power of the spirit of God alone can correct, as the 
showing of pity and comfort for a creature suffering from 
misfortune. It loves to paint heaven as a scene of repose 
after toils and sorrows — the place where the tears of the 
unfortunate are dried forever, rather than a place of ho- 
liness where a holy God is revealed in the glory of his 
justice and truth as well as of his love. Love does enter 
into this religion, but it is love to the beautiful pictured 
in the imagination. It is such an emotion as a dramatic 
scene or the creations of poetry can produce, which leave 
the heart hard and cold as to what is true and real. 

The gospel deals but little with the imagination. It is 
a testimony to facts. It takes man as he is, not as poetry 
would paint him. It appeals to common sense. It does 
not make religion a matter of dreamy contemplation or 
of awe through the fancy, but of experience. It throws 
clear light on man's actual condition, and teaches not 
merely his unhappiness, but his sin — his dark malignant 
sin; that his unhappiness is not his misfortune, but the 
just desert of his wickedness. It opens to view the 
whole evil of his case, without excusing or palliating his 
depravity, and without veiling the consequences of the 
curse of God on his soul. Then it shows how God has 
magnified his love in giving his Son for the hfe of the 
world ; and, further, it shows what is needed to fit car- 
nal man for the holiness of Heaven, '^ Except a man be 
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." There 
is here no healing of the hurt sHghtly. 

Let US; then, understand what is proper to our oflfice 



17 

to " testify the gospel of the grace of God." The 
doctrines of the gospel are to be preached^ and that in 
the way of testimony. They are facts of which God is 
witness; and we for him. The more simply stated the 
more effectual. All experience shows this. 

II. THE PROPER SPIRIT. 

Ministerial qualifications are partly official, referring to 
the commission which gives authority ; partly profession- 
al; referring to intellectual furniture or knowledge of the- 
ology ; and partly personal^ referring to the actual piety 
of the minister of Clirist. 

He must be acquainted with religion^ not only profes- 
sionally, so as to teach it as a science objectively^ but he 
must be himself personally pious and spiritually minded, 
and thus give in himself an illustration of the spirit and 
power of the gospel. St. Paul, even when teaching doc- 
trines, often does so by declaring his own case. '^ I count 
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of 
Christ Jesus, my Lord." In truth, one cannot clearly 
and fully set forth the grace of Christ, unless he be him- 
self taught of God. He must know Christ as his own 
Saviour ; he must know in his own case the power and 
riches and preciousness of the grace which he is to 
preach to others. In one word, he must be converted 
in his own heart by the power of the Holy Ghost. Per- 
fect regularity of ministerial commission, gifts and ac- 
quirements of the highest order, cannot take the place of 
the knowledge of the gospel taught by the Holy Spirit. 
Nothing can be a substitute for the life of the Holy 
Ghost. How can one make known to others a Saviour, 
who in the proper sense is unknown to himself? He 
may preach the gospel officially and professionally, as an 
attorney practises law, but his duties are all done in a 



18 

perfunctory manner^ and without the Spirit by which 
others are to be moved. One who is ^^ to testify of the 
gospel of the grace of God" should be able from his own 
experience to speak that which he does know. He must 
declare the truths of the gospel^ not as opinions^ but as 
truths which he knows to be the power of God to sal- 
vation ; he must speak as one who himself has been af- 
fected by them^ transformed^ brought out of darkness into 
light^ raised from the dead^ created anew by the power 
of the Spirit of God. Thus qualified^ dear brethren^ you 
can preach in such manner as that they who hear ^^ can- 
not resist the Spirit in which you speak. '^ It ^^behoveth 
Jesus himself to be made like unto his brethren/^ that he 
might feel for our infirmities. So does it become us to 
be fully tried or experienced in the spirit and power of 
the gospel in our own souls. Then can you preach from 
the heart to the heart. You can ^^ weep with them that 
weep; and rejoice with them that rejoice." Not only can 
you tell others concerning the way^ but^ yourselves walk- 
in it; you can take them by the hand and lead them onward 
in fellowship ; and when they are wearied^ or perplexed, 
or wavering; you can teach and strengthen and relieve 
them, by showing how yourselves have in like manner 
been led and taught and upheld. You can use not mere- 
ly the language of formal direction, pointing to the way, 
but the language of invitation and of community of inte- 
rests : " Come, go with us and we will do thee good ; 
for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." Your 
own hearts being full of love to the Redeemer who has 
shown his wonderful grace in saving your souls, you can 
speak in love and tenderness to others. Love begets 
love. " The love of Christ constraining you," you can 
move the hearts of others by pleading before them the 
unsearchable riches of loving kindness and grace shown 
in the redemption of a captive world ^^sold under sin." 



19 

This experience of the grace of Christ will cause you 
to have a proper view of the needy condition of men as 
sinners^ and of the preciousness of the provisions of the 
gospel. It will produce love for the souls of men as lost 
and perishing. It sustains the spirit of the laborer in the har- 
vest; in the midst of his severest toils^ and trials^ and suffer- 
ings. It was this which prompted the apostle to say, " I 
count not my Hfe dear unto myself, so that I might finish my 
course with joy." Thirst for gain will prompt a man to la- 
bor and suffer much ; ambition will sustain the mind in pur- 
suing power and honors, through mighty efforts ; but 
nothing will bear up the spirit in such energy and pa- 
tience in labors and sufferings — so ennoble the aim, and in 
the midst of all open such a pure, fresh, living spring 
of joy in the soul, as experience of the grace and power 
of the gospel. It subdues the soul in all its powers to 
Christ ; it opens the eyes to wisdom and wealth and glory, 
such as have never appeared even in vision to the world. 
It takes possession of the whole man, and, by a power 
from on high overshadowing him, so transforms him, that 
he seems to see nothing to live for, or labor or die for, 
but Christ Jesus the Lord. ^^ To me to live is Christ," 
is the proper language. The Spirit which has entered 
into him and controls him, is in its nature so above the 
discernment of the natural man, and its promptings 
are so above the motives which influence others, that he 
is thought beside himself. ^^Be it so," says an apostle, 
^^ if we be beside ourselves, it is to God ; if we be so- 
ber, it is for your cause." This spirit of the gospel is 
love — ^love to Christ, called forth by a demonstration of 
his unsearchably rich grace in saving the soul — love chas- 
tened and confirmed by a discipline of toils and trials — it 
is shed abroad in the heart by the gift of the Holy Ghost, 
and cherished by his indwelling, which causes it to flow 



20 

out as in living waters, increasing in fulness and depth 
and force till it is lost in the ocean of love in Heaven. 

The personal piety or experimental knowledge of the 
gospel in its riches of grace and its divine "power to 
salvation/' is requisite not only as a qualification for the of- 
fice of the ministry, but for our own entrance into the king- 
dom of God, It is possible that one who preaches the 
gospel officially to others may "himself be a castaway.'' 
We have souls of our own to be cared for, besides those 
of others intrusted to us. The same personal fitness for 
Heaven, the same riches and power of grace to justify 
and sanctify, are needed for the preacher's soul as for that 
of the humblest of the hearers. " Take heed to thyself, ^^ 
says St. Paul to Timothy, as well as "to the doctrine." 
Have we a tongue to speak of the sad condition of that 
minister of Christ,'who, after preaching ofl[icially and pro- 
fessionally to others, is found to know nothing of the 
grace of Christ revealed in his own soul ? Many may 
" prophesy in the name of Christ, to whom he will at 
last say, I never knew you." The hour comes apace to 
each of us, when our cares for the church on earth shall 
cease; all being laid aside for the care of our own souls, 
which shall go alone to meet the Lord, our righteous 
judge, at his seat of judgment. O then to be able to say, 
I knew him as my Redeemer revealed to my soul for sal- 
vation ; I was taught by his Spirit to live for him and die 
in him ; how sure will be the ground of hope of seeing 
him in his glory ! Without such a revelation of him in 
our souls in his power and preciousness, as we cannot 
preach him in power and unction to others, so neither can 
we stand at last with those his sheep whom he knows 
in the sense of having chosen and redeemed them. 



iJi'SRARy OF 




SpREss 



^22 16a 906 9 



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